By T. Scott Boatright
GRAMBLING — The potential creation of a Juvenile Justice District for Lincoln Parish was the topic of discussion during a meeting organized by Lincoln Parish Police Jury Vice President Greg “Big Coach” Williams that was held at the Eddie G. Robinson Museum.
In Louisiana, a “Juvenile Justice District” refers to a specific geographic area or group of parishes that the state’s juvenile justice system operates within, often encompassing a judicial district, and is responsible for handling cases involving children under 18 who are alleged to have committed delinquent acts or are in need of care.
Williams, Parish Administrator Courtney Hall, Assistant Parish Administrator Kevin Kelpzig, Parish Treasurer Michael Sutton and LPPJ members Dan Lord, Milton Melton and Logan Hunt were joined by state Sen. Gerald Long, Grambling Mayor Alvin Bradley, Boys and Girls Clubs of North Louisiana CEO Eldonta Osborne, Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice Deputy Sec. Kenneth Loftin, Office of Juvenile Justice Deputy Assistant Secretary Deron Patin, Lincoln Parish School Board Vice President Dannielle Williams and LPSB members David Ferguson and George Mack were among others attending the meeting.
The meeting started with a discussion of potentially developing a building on land now known as Grambling State University’s West Campus to use for working with troubled youth, but Greg Williams was quick to stress that any such building would not be used for holding purposes but instead a facility used for intervention, diversion and prevention.
“This is just a preliminary meeting to talk about the issue and how we can try to deal with it here in Lincoln Parish,” Greg Williams said. “And will hopefully begin with the creation of a juvenile justice district here in Lincoln Parish.
“But this is not about incarcerating. We don’t want to do that. What we want to do is intervention — stop problems before they get bad enough before incarceration even has to be considered. We want to reach our troubled young people and get them back on the right track before that ever becomes necessary.”
One thing that those attending brought out of the meeting was a feeling that state governmental leaders are supportive of the fledgling initiative here in Lincoln Parish.
“Gov. (Jeff) Landry is committed to juvenile justice in the state of Louisiana,” Loftin said as he addressed the group. “He’s put dollars there. The legislature has put dollars there. This time they put up $90M in state budget to build facilities across the state.
“It’s my understanding that y’all want to do something on the front end of that, which is a great thing to do. Lincoln Parish has needed a facility for a number of years. Probably 15 years ago I came to talk to the sheriff about it. Y’all need something, you do. But it’s great to start with (a diversion) program. We can help you with that. There are a couple of programs in the state that are doing a great job.”
Loftin encouraged Lincoln Parish leaders to visit those programs and learn what they can learn and apply to the situation here in Lincoln Parish.
“We’ll offer any help that we can,” Loftin said. “Some of it may be financial to get y’all going. Y’all have some great buildings in that picture (GSU’s West Campus). Those are a lot of buildings that you can do the diversion program with, and that’s going to have to happen.”
State Rep. Rashid Young talked to the group virtually and said the Lincoln Parish project had been discussed within state leadership.
“Part of the reason for that is because we found out Lincoln Parish is one of the few in the state without a juvenile justice district,” Young said. “The language there — juvenile justice name — may be something we tweak throughout the process. We’re just in the beginning stages of the process, but what we’re trying to do with legislation is trying to create a commission that could be legislatively-created that could operate the facility and programming we’re trying to do.
“We modeled the legislation off a piece of recent legislation that was created in Tangipahoa Parish. In their legislation, they appointed all stakeholders across their parish onto this commission and they make decisions about their juvenile justice facility. That’s folks from your judges office, folks from your D.A.’s Office, folks from the Sheriff’s Office, folks from the school system and police jurors. We’ll be talking with locals about who should be a part of that commission.”
Young said creating that local commission would open the opportunity to enter into contracts for leasing land, apply for federal and state grants and appropriations as well as doing construction if needed.
“It’s an ongoing process,” Young said. “If there were four stages to doing this legislation, we’re not even at Stage 1 yet. So, it’s going to be an ongoing conversation between your legislative delegation as well as your locals.”
Young said getting state legislation passed that would open the door to create a Lincoln Parish juvenile justice commission will be the first step in that process.
“It’s a non-taxing legislation — that’s something important to clear up,” Young said. “This will not give us the ability to levy any taxes at all. But you would have a legislatively-created political subdivision that would have a board of commissioners that would allow you to start conversations about funding, whether it’s from the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice, receiving a legislative appropriation, entering into a lease agreement with the state or whatever, that commission could be created by the end of the upcoming (state) legislative session.”
